Abstract: Task planning and collaboration of multiple robots have broad application prospects and value in the field of robotics. To improve the performance and working efficiency of our Spherical Underwater Robot (SUR), we propose a multi-robot control strategy that can realize the task planning and collaboration of multiple robots. To complete real-time information sharing of multiple robots, we first build an acoustic communication system with excellent communication performance under low noise ratio conditions. Then, the task planning and collaboration control strategy adjust the SURs so that they maintain their positions in the desired formation when the formation moves. Multiple SURs can move along desired trajectories in the expected formation. The control strategy of each SUR uses only its information and limited information of its neighboring SURs. Finally, based on theoretical analysis and experiments, we evaluate the validity and reliability of the proposed strategy. In comparison to the traditional leader–follower method, it is not necessary to designate a leader and its followers explicitly in our system; thus, important advantages, such as fault tolerance, are achieved.

Key words: Task planning, Collaboration control, Multiple spherical underwater robots (SUR), Shape keeping